Awhile ago when we were planning our trip to Forestville Mystery Cave State Park we were very excited to find out there were two areas we could take tours of. First was Historic Forestville which I recently wrote a post about, and second was Mystery Cave. The cave is taken care of and run by Minnesota’s DNR. You can view available tours and purchase tickets at this site. Because this was our first time visiting a cave as a family, we decided to book the Scenic Tour which is the entry level tour and great for beginners, it is also stroller and wheelchair accessible. They do have tours for more advanced explores or with special themes but we were not ready for that type of tour yet. We were a bit nervous about taking the tour with the kids and wondered if any of us would struggle with the idea of being in a cave for an hour, but we were pleasantly surprised with how well it went and how much we enjoyed the whole experience!
The How’s, When’s, and Where’s
For this tour, I highly highly recommend visiting the website linked above to view all of the current announcements and details. And while you can purchase tickets when you arrive, I would also recommend purchasing your tickets ahead of time, incase the time you plan to be there is a busy period so you don’t have to wait for a later tour time. There is a very nice picnic area around the main building if you are unable to plan in advance and end up needing to wait a bit. Tickets are super reasonable for an hour’s worth on entertainment and are comparable with other DNR run tours. If you are camping at the Forestville Mystery Cave State Park, it is important to note you do need to drive 10 minutes or so to the area where the Cave is located. When you arrive, you will go inside the visitor center and check in for your tour. While you wait, there are some exhibits that teach you about the cave as well as a nicely sized gift shop. They have some unique merchandise compared to the state park, so you may want to check out both stores before you decide what to spend your souvenir money on!
A Walk Through The Cave
When your tour is ready to leave, the tour guide will gather the group and walk you through preparing to go into the caves. There are some basic safety tips as well as cleaning guidelines for before and after as they want to try to protect this and other cave’s wildlife. Then you will take a short walk through the area around the building down to the entrance of the cave. You will get a few more instructions and they will help your eyes slowly adapt to the level of lighting in the cave. I recommend bringing warm layers to add as it was quite cool even on a hot day. We also let B bring a stuffed animal as a comfort measure because he was a little nervous. The path you take is a very easy walk with few stairs, but they have other paths you can take if you want to avoid those. I was also surprised there were very few areas that were small as you would expect for a cave, and in fact, many of the areas were larger than a room in your home. The tour guides are very knowledgeable and do a great job of moving everyone through the trail while still making sure you get a chance to see everything and ask any questions you may have. There are many dramatic lighting elements throughout the walk and they will talk you through each of them and why they are showing it to you in different ways. We learned quite a lot of new things, and they did a great job of adding learning opportunities to each section of the tour. B loved helping with a demonstration by pretending to be a bat and showing the group how sound travels in the caves.
Breathtaking Views
Before taking this tour, I had a basic understanding of what caves looked like and what we would find inside. But I cannot express to you how much different they are in person. The natural beauty of each of the features you come across is so inspiring. As you go through the tour you think, “I must have seen it all now, right?” but every new area shows you just how diverse a cave can be. The lighting features they have added to certain parts of the cave also act as a roadmap for your eye. Places you may not have thought to look at are highlighted and there are certain areas where they are encouraging your eye to explore an entire wall with multiple features to enjoy. To protect the cave, there are many places you cannot walk or touch, but they have done an amazing job of creating sort of mini-exhibits where it is safe and allowed to do both things. The tour guides will point them out, and it is a great way to experience what you are seeing close up. The kiddos loved the area where they could touch a small piece of stone with an example of the drip texture on it, I won’t give away why this is so interesting, but let’s just say they were very surprised!
An Excellent Way to Spend Your Time
This was such an amazing experience, I know I say that about a lot of things I talk about on this blog, but this was so so so amazing. We all learned new things and had a great time as a family exploring a new type of experience together. Everything we saw was so inspiring and beautiful and I honestly think we could go back and do the other types of tours now. For what you get the price is a great deal, especially for families since the kids can experience it so fully. If you want to make a whole afternoon of it, the visitor center and surrounding area offer ample opportunities. I have mentioned most of them, but its a very beautiful area to enjoy for a few hours before or after your tour. All and all, I highly recommend this experience, it is worth the drive for an afternoon away, although if you are driving from further away like us, it may fit in best with a camping trip at the state park. Have you been to Mystery Cave before? Let me know in the comments below!
